Marlys Edwardh

Who is Marlys Edwardh?

Marlys Edwardh, CM is a Canadian litigation and civil rights lawyer of international reputation, recognized for upholding the causes of justice and the rights of the wrongfully accused. She was one of the first women to practice criminal law in Canada.

She graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School, holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of California, a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Carleton University, and an honorary Doctorate in law from the Law Society of Upper Canada. She was called to the bar in 1976.

Edwardh has been involved in numerous high-profile Canadian criminal cases:

⁕She fought to overturn the wrongful convictions of Donald Marshall, Guy Paul Morin and Steven Truscott.

⁕She represented wrongly accused Maher Arar in the commission that investigated his deportation to Syria from the United States and his subsequent torture.

⁕She served on royal commissions examining Canada’s blood system and the Parker Inquiry, which investigated conflict of interest charges against former Cabinet Minister Sinclair Stevens.

⁕In 2000, she argued for freedom of the press on behalf of several Toronto news organizations ordered to hand over footage of police breaking up an anti-poverty protest at Queen’s Park. In 2005 she led the opposition to Bill C-49 on human trafficking.